Location, Location, Location

Tropical Cake 

Half a ripe mango

One ripe Banana

75g desiccated coconut

100g softened butter

125g caster sugar

2 eggs 

200g self raising flour

3 Passion fruits

1 packet of cream cheese

2 table spoonful icing sugar

Blitz the banana and mango in the blender, beat together with all the other cake ingredients and bake in two circular greased lined tinned for around 35mins at 180C until nice and springy. Leave to cool and make the topping. Beat together the cream cheese and icing sugar. Spread a few dollops of cream cheese on one of the cakes and the innards of one passion fruit, sandwich together the cakes. Spread the rest of the topping on the cake and drench with the other two passion fruits.

Greek Breakfast Cake

Okay so I made it up. This is neither Greek nor breakfasty. This is simply what you get if you throw together honey and almonds and lemon and a location themed name...

100g ground almonds

125g self raising flour

75g softened butter

100g caster sugar

2 eggs

Finely grated rind + juice of one lemon

Honey

Cream butter and sugar together and whisk in eggs. Beat in rind, juice, almonds and flour till you have a smooth paste. Dollop into a greased lined tray or tin and spread evenly and bake for around 25mins at 180C. Remove from the oven once springy and browned and whilst still warm prick with a fork and drizzle with honey. 

Wellington Slice

Plain flour

Caster sugar

Butter

Two tins condensed milk

75g butter

100g soft brown sugar

200g dark chocolate

100g white chocolate

Cream together butter and sugar and beat in the flour gradually until you have a smooth thick paste, spread thickly and evening into a lined tray and bake at 160C until just starting to brown. Melt together the brown sugar and butter (microwave is best) then added the condensed milk and boil (use a really big/tall container or you'll end up with a sticky mess!) until you have a caramelly consistency, spread over the short bread. Melt the two types of chocolate, pour the dark chcololate over evenly first before swirling the white chocolate over to create a pattern. Chill the trays before slicing into squares.

 

Stuff On Sticks

Valentines is a revolting day of the year. However like the flu it persists in returning year after year, so we may as well make the most of it - do you really need a better excuse to curl up beneath a duvet and eat a lot of chocolate covered stuff? Save on washing up by putting the chocolate stuff on sticks. Stroke of genius.

Cake Pops

Sponge cake

Cream cheese

Melted butter

Icing sugar

White Chocolate

Sprinkles 

Pink food colouring

Lollipop sticks + grease proof paper

I have somewhat unhelpfully not given any measurements here, but the joy of cake pops is a lot of experimentation and a huge mess in the kitchen. Firstly crumble the sponge as much as possible then mix in a little food colouring icing sugar, butter and cream cheese - a little at a time until the mixture sticks together well but isn't too sloppy - you need to be able to roll it into balls. Wet yours hands first, it makes rolling easier, take a small handful, roll it up and place on greaseproof paper push a lollipop stick in and refrigerate them for about an hour. Melt the white chocolate and dunk the balls in, make sure they're well covered, sprinkle with exciting sprinkles and place on greaseproof paper before chilling.

When in doubt consult, Queen of the cake pop...  http://www.bakerella.com/category/pops-bites/cake-pops/

Hot Chocolate Stir Sticks

Take a mini kebab stick, poke it into a marshmallow, dip the marshmallow in melted chocolate, cover with sparkle sprinkly things, place on greaseproof paper and cool. Make hot chocolate. Swirl marshmallowy thing in hot chocolate. Make a dribbly chocolaty mess all over the place. 

Chocolate Shortbread Hearts

250g softened butter

110g caster sugar

360g plain flour

150g dark chocolate melted

Beat the butter and sugar together till creamy, stir in the sifted flour until you have a smooth paste. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently roll to roughly 1cm thickness. Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out biscuits, transfer to a greased baking tray and bake in a preheated oven (150c) for 15-20mins. Once cooked and cooled dip half the hearts in the melted chocolate and cool on greaseproof paper.

Making the WI Proud!

A couple of absolute classics for you to bake and devour. Come along this Saturday for a scary array of valentines themed treats (I'm getting a bit happy with the cookie cutter at the moment...)

Coffee and Walnut

125g butter softened

125g caster sugar

2 eggs 

125g self-raising flour

2 heaped tbsp coffee , dissolved into a paste with a little hot water

100g walnut halves/pieces

300g soft butter

250gish sifted icing sugar

More dissolved coffee paste (up to you how much depending on how much of a caffeine hit you want)

Preheat the oven to 170C.  Cream together the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs little by little. Chuck in everything else (save a few walnut halves  for decoration) and mix well. Grease and line two sandwich tins, evenly divide the mixture and shove them in the oven for about 40 mins until their nice and springy. Let the cakes cool and in the meantime cream together the butter, icing sugar and coffee until smooth, sandwich the cakes together generously and spread the remaining butter cream on top, top it off with some walnuts.

Not-so-mini Victoria Sponges

200.0g caster sugar

200.0g softened butter

4 eggs , beaten

200.0g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder 

2 tbsp milk 

 

Double cream whipped (Use an electric whisk. Seriously. My arm has barely regained feeling.)

Jam (I'd recommend the lovely fruity stuff you can buy in the Polish section of Sainsbury's)

Throw ingredients into a bowls and mix until you have a lovely smooth batter. Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line two shallow square tins (the kind you would use for brownies or tray bakes). Bake for around 20mins, or until a knife stuck in the middle comes out clean. Once cool, use a small/medium circular cookie cutter to cut out rounds. 
Spread some jam and a blob of cream on a round and squash another round on top. 
Finish off with a dusting of icing sugar... Ta Da!

Marshmallow Madness

Rocky Roads

The Americans were on to a good idea when they decided to take a handful of tasty ingredients and then just drown them in chocolate...

250g smashed biscuits (I used hobnobs)

250g dried fruit and nuts 

A very generous handful of mini marshmallows 

300g chocolate

75g chopped butter

2 tablespoons of golden syrup

Line a tin well with greaseproof paper. Melt together the chocolate, golden syrup and butter (you can do this in the microwave but keep a close eye on it as the chocolate can easily burn. In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients together and combine well with the melty, gooey goodness. Spread into the tin and refrigerate for around 2hrs before slicing into squares.

Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

An easy peasy indulgent invention to use up a few of those mini marshmallows.

175g butter
225g dark chocolate
200g caster sugar
3 medium eggs
100g plain flour 

200ml double cream

Mini marshmallows

Coco powder

Melt together the chocolate and butter. Whisk together the eggs and sugar till creamy, gently fold in the melted chocolate. Fold in the sieved flour. Blob into cupcake cases and bake at 180C for around 20mins, you want them to still be a little gooey in the centre. 

Ideally serve these warm (with a spoon!), in which case do the next step immediately, if you are serving them later let the cakes cool before...

Whip the double cream into peaks, then pipe or blob generously onto each cupcake. Dust with coco powder and scatter with mini marshmallows.